Welcome! This is a Non-Political and a Non-Profit site (to include its authors and contributors) and does not subscribe to any revisionist organizations. This site is only to explore the combat role and history of the European Waffen-SS in World War II. Enlistment rolls show that a total of 950,000 men (German and foreigners) served in its ranks between 1940 and 1945. This blog contains a collection of real events and information on these volunteers for historical research and documentation.

ϟϟ-Standartenführer der Waffen-SS Witt

SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt

In 1931, Fritz Witt (May 25 1908 – June 14 1944) joined the SS and was one of the original 120 men picked for the special SS guard unit, known as the Stabswache, which was organized by Sepp Dietrich to provide security for Adolf Hitler. By 1933, Witt had reached the rank of SS-Sturmführer in the Stabswache, which had become known as “Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler”. The young officer had been marked as one of the rising stars of the Waffen-SS for exploits during the early war years. In March 1943, Leibstandarte SS took part in the Third Battle of Kharkov. Witt's force was reinforced with tanks, artillery and assault guns, and was given the task of attacking from the North. SS-Kampfgruppe Witt was to form one of three pincers which would destroy Mobile Group Popov and recapture Kharkov. The attack got underway on March 2 1943, and by March 10 1942 SS-Kampfgruppe Witt had reached the suburbs of Kharkov. After ferocious fighting near Dergatschi, SS-StandartenführerWitt broke through and advanced into the city centre, fighting alongside Kurt Meyer's Kampfgruppe. Over the next few days, the SS-Kampfgruppes of Witt and Meyers' saw intense fighting, and were cut off several times inside the city. Despite this, they held and SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper reached them and together the three Leibstandarte SS units annihilated the Soviet defenders. For his leadership and bravery in a number of actions, both in Greece and in the Soviet Union, he won the Oakleaves to his Knight's Cross on March 1 1943. Fritz Witt assumed his last command in the summer of 1943, when he was chosen to organize, train and lead SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Hitlerjugend. At the age of thirty-five years old, he was one of the youngest German divisional commanders. On June 6 1944, the Allied invasion of France began and SS-Standartenführer Fritz Witt led his new division of old veterans and teenage soldiers into combat for the first time. Led by its aggressive commanders, such as Kurt Meyer and Max Wünsche, the division fought extremely well and bloodied several Allied divisions during the Normandy fighting. Witt was killed when allied naval bombardment targeted his divisional headquarters on June 14 1944. His youthful SS-Panzergrenadiers grieved openly when they found out about his death, many in tears at the loss of their beloved and highly esteemed commander. Image: SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Fritz Witt 1944. Commons: Bundesarchiv.